UFC: Zhang Weili says ‘I’m not Yao Ming’ as champ vows to create own hype in China

UFC strawweight champion welcomes a potential bout on ‘Fight Island’ in Abu Dhabi as she continues to train in Shanghai

Zhang says she doesn’t want to be compared to any other Chinese sports star and simply wants to ‘be a better me’

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China’s first UFC champion Zhang Weili attends a training session at the UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:43pm, 17 Jun 2020Updated: 10:50am, 18 Jun 2020

Zhang Weili retained her UFC title in March in one of the greatest women’s fights in mixed martial arts history, was then stranded in the United States for six weeks by coronavirus and finally flew back to China in a protective suit and visor.

But after all that, it was the sight of airport and medical staff with “welcome home” scribbled on their own protective gear to greet arriving passengers that deeply affected her.

“I was really touched and excited, I’ve never felt such warmth in all my life,” China’s first and only UFC champion said in Shanghai.

The 30-year-old Zhang, who as a child was challenged by her mother to jump out of ditches to toughen her up, has enjoyed a life-changing 10 months. Last August she thrilled a home crowd in Shenzhen with an upset knockout of UFC champion Jessica Andrade of Brazil in just 42 seconds to make MMA history.

Zhang then successfully defended the strawweight title in a brutal dust-up in Las Vegas in early March against Poland’s Joanna Jedrzejczyk, despite her build-up being badly disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak.